Last August the Embassy of Ukraine in The Hague hosted a festive diplomatic reception on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Independence Day of Ukraine.
Among the guests of the evening were President of the Senate of the Kingdom of the Netherlands Ankie Broekers-Knol, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps, prominent public figures, representatives of the Ukrainian community.
The evening opened with a performance of National Anthems of Ukraine and the Kingdom of the Netherlands by a born in Ukraine opera singer Gabor Balint, followed by an address of the Ambassador of Ukraine in the Kingdom of the Netherlands H.E. Olexander Horin.
In his remarks Ambassador Olexander Horin welcomed those present at this year’s diplomatic reception on the occasion of the Independence Day of Ukraine, which, according to him was special in many ways.
“This year’s celebration is special. It is a quarter century ago that we chose our independent future. The foundation was laid for Ukrainians at last realizing an ancient dream of multiple preceding generations of having their own state,” he said.
According to the Ambassador, the period that followed, was marked by our hesitation to break the link with our immediate soviet past. “Domestically, paternalism and political indifference turned out to be deeply rooted in the public conscience, readily exploited by populist politicians with mercantile interests and planning horizons spanning no further than a next election campaign. It was not better on the international scene: we were getting lost in the nets of multi-vector policies, seeing Europe ahead as our model but looking back constantly at Moscow, believing in a mythical brotherhood, trying to keep foot in both camps,” he said.
Ambassador Horin said that the events of 2013-2014 in Ukraine and Russia’s hybrid all-out aggression against Ukraine that followed, became a rude awakening for Ukrainians that made them re-think deeply their attitude to the surrounding reality.
“It is of course the accelerated process of Ukrainian political nation building on the basis of civic patriotism, the Ukrainians’ readiness to defend our state arms in hand shoulder to shoulder that we have to thank for Ukraine still being there,” he said, emphasizing also the role of Ukrainian heroes, who sacrificed their lives for peaceful future of Ukraine.
Olexander Horin stated that the development of democracy and liberty, transparency of government, rule of law based on the sense of human dignity and national unity has been on the rise in Ukraine since the Maidan events of 2013-2014 as never before. “Introduction of the new police, now so much more trusted by the population; establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau to the best standards and experience of the Western world; launching of the new revolutionary system of public e-procurement “ProZorro”; legislative changes opening access to several government databases, such as the registry of legal entities and the registry of property owners; introduction, despite numerous problems, of the system of e-declaration of income by civil servants, are some of the many small steps forward,” he said, emphasizing Ukraine’s readiness to admit that there is still such negative phenomena as corruption, bribery, nepotism, embezzlement of funds, in Ukraine, which were precisely the ailments of the Ukrainian reality that young Ukrainians with a new European world outlook had been protesting on the Maidan square in Kyiv and across Ukraine in 2013-2014.
He stressed again that the current slow but steady changes that the Maidan brought are fundamental and irreversible. “All public polls demonstrate these fundamental changes in the social consciousness. People are proud of their Ukrainian citizenship, state symbols, respect and honor Ukrainian language. The Euro-Atlantic vector, the EU and NATO predominate in geopolitical preferences of majority of Ukrainians,” he said.
Speaking about the Ukrainian-Dutch relations, 25th anniversary of establishment of which the two sides are going to celebrate next year, Ambassador Horin said they have reached an unprecedented level of activity in the last few years and expressed Ukraine’s gratitude to the Dutch Government for their unshaken support of Ukraine, both in the EU and on bilateral level, in the question of defending our sovereignty and territorial integrity from Russia, the policy of non-recognition of illegal occupation of Crimea and firm stance of opposition to Russia’s actions to fuel the conflict in the east of Ukraine.
He pointed out that the Netherlands have become one of Ukraine’s main economic partners in the EU with $1,5 billion trade turnover in 2015 and growing, and one of the biggest investors in the Ukrainian economy.
“We are of course looking forward to the development of this cooperation, especially in the framework of the already provisionally working EU-Ukraine Association Agreement. Having been assured by our Dutch partners that they value the prospects offered by the Agreement for all sides, as much as we do, we remain optimistic and positive that the Dutch Government will eventually find a way to make it work in full for the benefit of our two countries,” he stressed.
After addressing the audience, the Ambassador took part in a presentation of national decorations and Embassy of Ukraine in The Hague Certificates of Gratitude to members of the Dutch public and Ukrainian community in the Netherlands, who had made an outstanding contribution into the promotion of Ukraine’s image and culture, as well as into the provision of humanitarian assistance to the ATO servicemen and internally displaced persons in Ukraine.
After that, the guests of the evening had an opportunity to enjoy a performance of Ukrainian folk songs by the Ukrainian diaspora in the Netherlands organized Choir “Chervoni Korali”, an exhibition of ceramics by Ukrainian sculptor Olena Cornet, as well as taste dishes of the traditional Ukrainian cuisine.
